How To Make Basic Fruit Jam Without Pectin

When summer comes around, we try to find ways to make it last forever. So every day this week, we’ll bring you a new guide to preserving the season’s best herbs, fruits, and vegetables.

Why make your own jam? It’s a simple way to use up any bumper crop of fruit. It’s a no-brainer D.I.Y. gift. But we like it most because it lets us control the level of sweetness in the final product.

Making and canning your own jam is also quite easy.

Here’s what you need to know:

When fresh berries are abundant this summer, do yourself a big favor and snatch them up for jam making. No need to make a huge fuss over buying special ingredients or equipment for canning — you can make summer berry jam with just the fruit, lemon juice, and sugar in about 30 minutes at home.

Here’s How to Make Jam in 5 Easy Steps:

1. Cut the fruit into even pieces: Depending on the size of your strawberries and blackberries, you’ll either need to quarter or halve them before you get started.2. Mash the fruit and sugar together: Use a potato masher to work the jam and sugar together — this releases moisture from the berries and gets them cooking faster.3. Boil the fruit for 20 minutes: Bring the fruit to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. The mixture will start with big, juicy bubbles and slowly progress to small, tighter bubbles as the jam gets closer to doneness.4. Know when the jam is done: Simply dribble some hot jam from the pot onto the frozen spoon and wait a few seconds for it to cool. Run your finger through the jam — if it makes a clear path through the jam and doesn’t fill in, then you have a good set.5. Jar and store the jam: When the jam is set to your liking, remove the jam from the heat and transfer to the clean jars. Cover and cool completely before moving the jam to the fridge for long-term storage.

Using and Storing Your Fruit Jam
Because this jam isn’t canned, it must be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. It will last several weeks in the fridge, but can be frozen for up to three months. Obviously you can use the jam anywhere you like jam — on toast, in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or on fresh biscuits. No-pectin jam is also ideal for baking — swirl it into pancake or muffin batter or bake it into fruit pies to savor the flavor for even longer.

Instructions:
Prepare the berries. Cut the berries into large chunks, discarding any heavily bruised sections. Place a few clean metal spoons in the freezer.

Combine the fruit and sugar in a medium pot. Place the fruit, sugar, lemon, and salt in a 2- to 3-quart heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and mash the fruit a little with a potato masher or large fork into a chunky texture.

Cook the fruit and sugar. Bring the mixture up to a boil, stirring frequently. Continue to boil while keeping an eye on it, still stirring frequently, until the fruit is jammy and thick, about 20 minutes.

Begin checking the fruit for doneness. Start checking to see if the jam is set. Remove a spoon from the freezer and dribble several drops of the jam onto the spoon. Wait a few seconds, and then run a finger through the jam. If it leaves a distinct track in the jam, it is done. If it runs back in on itself, keep cooking the jam and test again a few minutes later.

Cool the jam and move it to two jars. Turn off the heat and carefully transfer the jam into 2 clean (8-ounce) glass jars. Cool to room temperature. Seal, label with the fruit and the date, and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Recipe Notes:
Freezing this jam: You can also freeze this jam for up to 3 months. Just be sure to leave 1/2-inch of room at the top of the jar so the jam can expand while freezing.